Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam

Check out the post I wrote about the Amsterdam Public Library at my other blog.

Coffee and Tea

After weeks of having nothing to do, today I actually had three appointments on my calendar. This morning was the big kick off of the weekly parents coffees at M's school, then I went out to Buittenveldert for a newcomers coffee at the local women's club, then back to school for a class meeting. And I fit some grocery shopping in there. Compared to my life in the states this was nothing, but by the time I picked M up I was utterly exhausted. It was all I could do to keep the TV off until 4:15. We had an early dinner and after, had a little tea party before bath. M very kindly brought the train shaped biscuits and when I pretended to take a bite of James, he was thoughtful enough to warn me that I was biting the paper.

In the Kitchen

My helper

Before I left New York I knew that I needed to have something to do in Amsterdam--a major hobby.  I'm not working and I decided that I would not feed my family anything that came out of a box.  Don't get me wrong, even as a working mother with a big-deal job we were never the type of family  to rely on mac and cheese, Trader Joe's meals or takeout, but we did rely on very simple fare:  soup and sandwich, Rafetto's pasta and "snack dinner" were part of our regular menu rotation.  And, I was always fond of saying, "if it's Thursday, it's egg night."  Before we had a child we put a lot more time and effort into our meals and I wanted to get back to that.  However, a few things are standing in my way:

1. Lack of Equipment.  Growing up the child of an early adopter foodie, I'm well versed in cooking tools. I know what I need and need what I like, and simply speaking I don't have it here.  Because of the different voltage my Braun hand blender, Cuisinart and Kitchen Aid hand mixer all had to stay behind in New York. Similarly, the Le Cruset and All Clad also didn't make the cut, mostly because I didn't know how poorly equipped the kitchen would be.  I have one pot, a sort of medium-ish stainless thing with a clad bottom that's not half bad, and a couple of cheapy teflon frying pans.  To be fair, our landlord did explain that he just tossed the overused pots and pans and that we should just tell him what we wanted, but we haven't done that yet.
2. The Metric System. Growing up in the '70s, I was taught Metric with the promise that we'd all be using it.  When that didn't happen I got rusty.  Now I have to consult a conversion chart every time I want to use the oven.  And my one measuring cup is in milliliters.  And how do I know how much meat/fish to ask for at the butcher/fishmonger?
3. Lack of Time/Attention.  Until last week I was home all day with a near 4-year-old, and if I want to cook, I'm generally called away to play super hero.  Occasionally I can engage him in cooking or park him in front of TV, but only occasionally.
4. An overly complicated oven with a Dutch manual:  While most Dutch households have a small wall oven the size of a microwave, we have a Smeg 5 burner, professional looking monstrosity.  The settings have no words, just symbols, but thanks to my sister I recently decoded what they mean.  Our microwave was similarly baffling until my sister-in-law came to visit and just walked up to it, pressed some buttons and it sprang to life.
5. Lack of supermarket savvy:  Ever go to a new supermarket and not know where anything is? Try it with all the signs and labels in a different language. Last week I bought chicken bouillon, or so I thought; it was kind of like a tea bag full of spices. The other day I bought flour but wasn't completely sure I hadn't bought corn meal until I got home and opened it up.

My out-of-a-box masterpiece.

 But we have done OK.  I have bought cod at the market (albeit way too much) and a chicken and some burgers at the butcher (albeit way too expensive).  Friday was rainy so I decided to bake with M.  My original thought was frozen cookie dough because he's a little antsy for the mixing portion of the exercise, but it turns out that they don't have that here (or at least in my local supermarket).  So, I bought a cake mix and some pre-packaged icing.  This also meant buying a cake pan. Interestingly, a spring-form pan in the states is something only real bakers have.  Here it seems to be the only kind of cake pan and for under 4 Euro I got a pretty good one.  

A very happy little boy after his slice of cake.

I did my best to translate the cake mix instructions before I left the store to be sure I had what was needed.  The cake turned out pretty good, despite the fact that I mangled the top trying to test it with a fork (of course, my cake tester is in New York).  The icing was a small envelope from Dr. Oetker, a brand I've seen in the States.  I thought for sure you must add water to the hard little mess inside, but thankfully the package had French instructions as well as Dutch, so I learned that you just put the entire packet in hot water and gently squeeze it until it melts (...dans une grande quantite d'eau tres chause...).  The result was actually quite delicious--kind of like a Boston Cream Pie without the custard.  I'd definitely make it again and highly recommend the Dr. Oetker frosting if you can find it.

The kiprollade, cooked perfectly
thanks to Google Translator

Inspired, I decided to make a roast for dinner.  I was fascinated by something at the grocery store called a  kiprollade.  I figured it was some kind of chicken roast, and from my rudimentary translation of the ingredients, I figured it had stuffing in it.  I was kind of envisioning a turdukken minus the tur and duk, but what I got was more like a Tofurkey with some chicken it it. It was weirdly processed, kind of like a big chicken sausage, and although we ate it, I ended up throwing the leftovers away because it was just too gross.  Looks pretty in the picture, though, right?  Some lovely brussels sprouts and brown rice completed the meal.  M basically had brown rice and milk for dinner.

My plan to get back to cooking isn't entirely lost.  We have had some modest but strong success with the lemon chicken breasts I made from the Fanny Farmer cookbook, and Peter made some lovely Mackerel last weekend.   I feel like I'm just finding my feet here and I'm sure I'll get more creative as time goes by.

21st Cenury Life

With a big shout-out to my husband, who stayed up until 2:30 last night setting it up, I'm thrilled to announce we finally have Internet!

Turns out that the "open house" at M's school wasn't really an open house after all.  Rather, it was a uniform sale.  I stopped by the school and learned that I was supposed to have received an email in early August containing vital information about M's school schedule for the first week, the protocol for organizing a home visit and instructions for making payments.  Oh well, a one-letter typo in the email address meant I didn't receive any of this information.  I'm happy that the preschool director was able to accommodate our request for a home visit even though we missed the deadline by 3 weeks.

For you Americans out there, it's common practice in British preschools for teachers to visit students at home at the beginning of the school year to solidify the link between home and school.  I think it's a great idea (like a parent-teacher conference at the start of the year) and I think it's the kind of thing that will help M adjust to his new teachers.  I'm looking forward to it.

M's schedule for "Induction Week" was quite abbreviated: one hour on Tuesday and Wednesday and two hours on Friday.  On Tuesday he didn't start until 10:30 and he was so excited about school we actually arrived at about 10.  He had a great time playing with the toys and meeting his teachers.  He also impressed his teachers by sitting cross legged at circle time without being asked (thank you, 3-and-a-half years of daycare).  On Wednesday one of the other kids in M's class was outside the school when we arrived.  He recognized us right away and waved.  It was a great welcome and really made us feel like we belong.

Life returns to (the new) normal...

OK, so the belongings (read:  TOYS) have arrived.  It's much easier to be here now, especially recovered from jet lag and with the promise of school starting on Tuesday.  M will be attending preschool three days per week, although the first day will include shortened days as part of an "induction" period.  Being at home all day is still challenging (especially on rainy days), but we are finding a rhythm.  Definitely better when we get out.

We went bike shopping yesterday.  The advice we received was to purchase a 50 Euro bike and add a 50 Euro lock, but it seems that will be impossible, since used bikes start at 300 Euro.  I suppose we could buy a buy bikes from individuals rather than a used bike store, but that seems like a lot of trouble.  But, a bike is like a car here, so I think it's worth it.  The guy at the bike store explained that the bikes they sell are like BMWs and Mercedes.  I explained that I was thinking more about buying a Toyota. But I suppose we can sell them when we leave.

We interacted quite a bit with locals yesterday:  The bike store, the fish market (where I finally sampled the famous salted herring, which was delicious), and at The Little Gym, which had an open house. I don't think we'll be signing M up for any classes.  It's a schlep from our apartment--15 minutes on the tram, then another 15 minutes of walking at least-- and at almost 400 Euro per semester seems a bit overpriced.  I'm sure I can find another activity for cold, rainy winter days.  It was a really fun day.

Tomorrow there is an open house at M's school.  We can get his uniforms and hopefully some info about his school day, plus he'll be able to meet his teachers and finally see his classroom.